Getting back in the blog saddle

I really need to get used to this new way of communicating. Not that communicating by computer is that new, but that fact that it's sort of expected to know how if you want to be communicated with at all is new. I guess it is a more effiecient way of letting all your loved ones know what's going on in your life... sitting down, typing it once, instead of all the time that might be spent on the phone or.... this is unheard of now... coming over for a visit. Our lives are simply too fast-paced i guess and i'm going to stop complaining about the fact that things used to be different and start getting on board and working in the direction things seem to be headed and be where the action is. If i want to be heard, this is where everyone is taking the time to listen, so I'll just roll with it.

Yesterday's sermon hit home. For those who don't go to our church, we covered the very last bit of James and Pastor Mark talked about the prayer of a righteous man. There was one particular part of the sermon where me made note that Elijah prayed for rain and it was answered.... after the idols and false gods were dealt with. We keep praying for revival and for God to speak to us and to see healing and miracles and for God to display his power as in days of old. But God expects a certain order to things. We want all the blessings from our Father and don't want to be bothered with obedience. James says that religion that is pure and faultless is looking after those who can't help themselves and to keep yourself UNSTAINED BY THE WORLD.

The pure in heart shall see God. And we have called purity and holiness "legalism" and "getting out of balance". Saul was told to wipe out the Amalekites and he did... mostly, but he kept the best out of the lot... kept the best of what God had called wholly contemptable and worthy of destruction. Am I allowing myself to befriend the best of what the world has to offer? Am I worried about becoming a picture of what the world itself has painted as dull and boring. Do I see holiness as bland? Has my diet of junk food made wholesome food unpalatable? Am I fooling myself when I keep going to the fast food places and just pick the best of what they have to offer on the menu? (Has anyone ever checked out the calorie count in one of those McDonald's salads?)

I was covering my hour on the prayer wall for our church this morning... and I stayed awake for once, because I was reminded, once again by the sermon, that many people find the knees the proper position for prayer. I find it's sort of uncomfortable and keeps me awake. :)

God led me to Psalm 101, which was right after the Psalm I was reading for the devotional I'm using but the Lord didn't let me read 100, but kept leading me forward to the next Psalm.

I used Psalm 101 as a confession of sin by reversing the meaning of what David was declaring to be true about himself. I realized my life didn't come close.

The Psalm starts out with a commitment to sing praises and a prayer "When will You come to me?" Is this not a description of every music half of our service every week? We sing his praises and ask him to show his power. But consider how it goes on.

"I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart."
I don't know about you, but I have to sometimes say do as I say, not as I do, though I think I'm hiding the "what I do". Has anyone else limited their kids to a certain amount of candy per day and scarfed down twice as much valentines chocolate while no one's looking?

"I will set no worthless thing before my eyes;"
Hmmmmm.... I just love Sudoko, and puzzles of every sort. I can just forget the pain of life when I get lost in a problem, and yet, surprisingly enough, nothing of eternal value has yet sprung forth as fruit of my time working those puzzles.

I hate the work of those who fall away;
Not really. I've kind of gotten used to it.

It shall not fasten its grip on me.
Oh... is that what happens when I get used to it?

A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil.
I've heard it said that we should be knowledgable of the forms the deceiver takes and know enough to stay away from the wrong people and to stay safe, but to get drawn in and intrigued by it... to watch every documetary on serial killers and the occult... not okay. And if you flip through your guide to what's on right now, I guarantee you at least half or more covers the inside life of iniquity... either Hitler, or a crooked politician, of someone who eats themselves so big that they can't get out of their house, reality TV about messed up families, TV movies about incest and rape and unspeakable things.

5Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy;
Slander is simply talking about someone. When's the last time you just walked away and refused to listen to a conversation because someone was talking bad behind someone else's back?

No one who has a haughty look and an arrogant heart will I endure.
Our comedians and entertainers mostly make a living out of making fun of others and assuming a sort of superior stature as they point out the speck in the eyes of every celebrity and politician, while the log of self-righteousness is stuck in their own. I will admit one of my favorite shows is The Daily Show with John Stewart. The guy just makes me laugh. but does that make it okay? (Not to mention they have to bleep him often... but I keep on turning on his show... in fact it's programmed into my Tivo to record every day) One day they will see all the things they themselves were wrong about and be brought to shame.

6My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.
Who is ministering do you? When you are lonely and bored, does that TV come on? Who are we letting into our home? I think movies and TV are the biggest example of where I want to hold onto the "best" of what the world has to offer. I have yet to find a program completly blameless and free of lies and transgressions of God's commands. I really like "Home Improvement", but there is a constant message of the stupidity of men and the need for women to have a life outside the home. Noggin (a cable channel for kids) is commercial free and has "educational" programming. But it occurred to me the other day that almost every move and TV show made for kids has children (or child-aged animals or characters of some sort) working out their problems without the help of any authority figure. Has anyone noticed that almost every animated disney film starts with the orphaning of a child? A comforting message to hear (for our flesh) that our kids can find their way without us and turn out just fine, so we might as well tend to our own needs and let them work things out for themselves. And don't get me started on Barbie movies and how skinny those animated figures have gotten. I've actually never geen tempted by those movies myself but thought I'd throw that in there for good measure. But I don't want to let go of that "out" that is so handy when i want to get my kids out of my hair for an hour or two.

And pray for me. I've recently agreed to a High School Musical theme party for my almost 8-year-old, which I finally succumbed to my child's begging to buy th movie because she was the only one in her entire class (she says) who hasn't seen the movie. (I still remember feeling that way about Grease in fourth grade. Now I've seen it and am grateful). Anyway, the movie is pretty clean for the most part but do you know what song my girls have picked out of every song to sing around the house? (including my 4-year-old) The scene they're always glued to and the song they sing around the house is "Bop, bop, bop to the top" That song has a horrible message, which is condemned sort of in the larger picture of the movie, but not explicitly rebuked.


7He who practices deceit shall not dwell within my house;
He who speaks falsehood shall not maintain his position before me.
Again, who are we letting into our house through the television and internet? We don't even have to open our physical front door anymore for strangers to enter in.

8Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
So as to cut off from the city of the LORD all those who do iniquity.
Am I vigilant daily to clean out my life? Or is it clean for about a week after the women's retreat every year and just slides back where it was.

So my point is, I am faithful to perform all the disciplines, but will it get me anywhere, will God take me to the places he wants me to go, or will I hang onto my idols and keep going in circles. I pray for God to give me a willing spirit to sustain me because it just seems unpalatable at the time. But i want to want to... so badly. I'm starting to get a vision for what I'm missing out on and that God is calling us to holiness and will equip us to accomplish it, even with a flood of unholiness surrounding us. And it WILL be worth it. I will be amazed at what he hands me when I lay down the things I'm gripping so tightly. Pray that we don't miss out.